1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an effective technology which is applied to image correction to a taken image, particularly to the taken image in which a subject is a person.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in the image in which the person is taken, there is a problem that the so-called “glaze” is generated. The glaze means that a part of skin is taken in white because light of a stroboscope and the like emitted in taking a photograph is reflected from surface of the skin of the subject person. Therefore, a region in which the glaze is generated (hereinafter referred to as “glaze region”) is taken in higher brightness when compared with surrounding skin. Such the glaze gives discomfort impression to a person who sees the image. Therefore, the technology which removes or reduces the glaze is required in the image in which the glaze has been generated.
Conventionally a correction method, in which an operator finds a high-brightness region by visual inspection and the glaze is suppressed by manually reducing the brightness or lightness of the high-brightness region using photo-retouching software and the like, is realized for the demand of the technology which removes or reduces the glaze.
A technology, in which the domain including eyes of the subject person is selected from the image to recognize the high-brightness region in the selected domain and the recognized high-brightness region is painted in based on pixel values on the periphery of the high-brightness region, is also proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-269545).
However, when a process of unconditionally decreasing the brightness is performed to the high-brightness region in the image like the conventional technology, there is a possibility that the process of decreasing the brightness is performed to the high-brightness region (for example, the high-brightness regions except for the skin) where the decrease in brightness is not intrinsically required. Specific examples of the high-brightness regions except for the skin include gloss of hair, gloss of a lip, and brightness of a pupil. Contrary to the glaze, the high-brightness regions except for the skin give the good impression to the person who sees the image, particularly when the subject is a woman. Accordingly, in the high-brightness regions, it is not necessary that the brightness is decreased. The above problem cannot be solved even by the method of selecting the domain including the eyes of the subject person from the image.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which solves the above problems to remove or reduce the glaze by performing correction only to a particular region in which the decrease in brightness is necessary.